According to Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports, the Denver Nuggets have officially declined Nikola Jokic’s team option making him a restricted free agent and in line to receive a max contract.
With Jokic being a restricted free agent, the Nuggets can match any offer given to him to ensure that he remains in Denver for years to come. If Denver had decided to exercise their team option and just pay Jokic $1.6 million for the 2018-19 season, he would become an unrestricted free agent in 2019 and the Nuggets would not have the ability to match any contract offer thrown his way. Jokic could leave and Denver would not be able to do anything about it.
Jokic is now in line to sign what will likely be a five-year contact worth $146.5 million. With that max contract, Jokic will make $25.25 million in the first year and by his final season in 2022-23, he will be making $33.3 million.
With both Wilson Chandler and Darrell Arthur opting into the final year of their contracts by exercising their player options, here is where the Nuggets cap sheet will sit after giving Jokic a max contract.
The cap sheet above does not account for free agents Will Barton, Richard Jefferson, Devin Harris, or Torrey Craig, who is a restricted free agent so there is a $1.33 million cap hold still on Denver’s books. That puts Denver $9.1 million into the tax prior to any potential free agency activity.
Regardless, the Nuggets are taking steps to lock up their best player for half of a decade. For a team that has been perceived as frugal, Denver seems willing to spend to keep their core intact. Tim Connelly told the media after draft night that Jokic will be in Denver for a long time. This is the first step towards that goal.
“Nikola is going to be here a long, long time,” Connelly said. “Whatever we do, we are going to ensure that he is here as long as possible. When that moment happens, we are going to talk to Nikola, his brothers, his representation and he will be in denver for a long, long time — he will be buying here.”